Basic Academy of International Studies also known as Basic Academy and Basic High School, is a public high school with an embedded
magnet high school that is part of the
Clark County School District
The Clark County School District (CCSD) is a school district that serves all of Clark County, Nevada, including the cities of Las Vegas, Henderson, North Las Vegas, and Boulder City; as well as the census-designated places of Laughlin, Blue ...
. It was the first high school in
Henderson, Nevada, United States.
School name
During the
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
era, numerous factories located themselves in the
Las Vegas Valley
The Las Vegas Valley is a major metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada, and the second largest in the Southwestern United States. The state's largest urban agglomeration, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Statistical Area i ...
. Chief among these wa
Basic Magnesium PlantBMI which wa
created for the war effortBMI’s “miracle metal”allowed airplanes to be more lightweight and bombs to be more powerful. A new town was created to accommodate associated magnesium workers.
While the military installation was officially titled secret codenam
Plancor 201H the federal government called i
Midway City Unofficially, it was known a
Basic Townsite In 1942, the name of the city was changed t
Hendersonin honor of famed Nevadan and
U.S. Sen. Charles Belknap Henderson who was also a Lieutenant in the
Rough Rider Cavalry during the Spanish-American War.
As magnesium workers relocated to Henderson, a new high school was needed for their children, an
Townsite High Schoolwas created. Its name was soon changed t
Railroad Pass High School and so it remained until 1945 when th
city was listed as a military surplus Since this time, the school has been commonly known as Basic High School—though as is a theme throughout its history—Basic is also known by other names, most notabl
Basic Academy of International Studies
History and traditions
Basic High School opened in 1942. The school, then located where the Henderson City Hall now stands, graduated its first class of ten students in 1943. In 1954 it moved to a site near Van Wagenen Street and Pacific Avenue (the current site of Lyal Burkholder Middle School). Since 1973 Basic High School has been located at 400 N. Palo Verde Drive.
The school received
IB accreditation for the
Middle Years Programme
The International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme (MYP) is an educational programme for students between the ages of 11 to 16 around the world as part of the International Baccalaureate (IB) continuum. Middle Year Programme is intended to pr ...
in 2016 and the
Diploma Programme
The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) is a two-year educational programme primarily aimed at 16-to-19-year-olds in 140 countries around the world. The programme provides an internationally accepted qualification for entry into ...
in 2017.
Until the opening of
Green Valley High School, Basic was the only high school in Henderson. A long-standing rivalry exists between the two. A large white "B" is painted on a local mountain during the week of Homecoming, which stands for "Basic"; it is visible throughout the entire city of Henderson year-long. The original "B" was painted near the old Basic High School on Black Mountain, now known as Lyal Burkholder Middle School, which was also maintained for many years, long after Basic relocated to its current campus.
School features
A three-story building is very noticeable on the Basic Academy of International Studies campus; most classrooms here are classes for freshmen students, and it is referred to as the "Towers" since it towers over the rest of the school.
An
International Baccalaureate Program
The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) is a two-year educational programme primarily aimed at 16-to-19-year-olds in 140 countries around the world. The programme provides an internationally accepted qualification for entry into ...
is offered at Basic Academy.
Basic is one of the few schools in Henderson which still has an annual
Homecoming
Homecoming is the tradition of welcoming back alumni or other former members of an organization to celebrate the organization's existence. It is a tradition in many high schools, colleges, and churches in the United States, Canada and Liberia.
...
parade.
Clubs and organizations
The school offers many clubs, including a
chess club, Bible club, ''Super Smash Bros.'' club, Polynesian club, Key Club, and Spanish Club. It is one of the few high schools in the county to have a robotics club, which builds and designs high-tech robots and enters them at annual competitions at
UNLV
The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes th ...
.
Led by coach Richard Walters, the Robotics Club was home to the most successful teams in Nevada robotics history, including teams 9922Z (state champs 2018, 2019, 2020, and national finalists in 2019), 9922X (state champs in 2019), 9922A (state champs in 2018), and 9922C (state champs in 2017). During the 2022 season they finished a combined 4 - 8 in just two tournaments.
Basic's ''El Lobo'' yearbook is set to high standards, and has won national praise for many years. The 2005 ''El Lobo Volume LXIII'' (63rd) yearbook was named the silver medalist by the
CSPA and was named All-American with four marks of distinction for the 16th consecutive year. The yearbook is published by Herff Jones publishing company.
The ''Lone Wolf Newspaper'' of Basic Academy of International Studies is the oldest newspaper in Henderson. The 2008–2009 school year was its 66th year of publication. It has been published longer than the prominent ''
Las Vegas Sun'' newspaper, owned by Greenspun Media and founded in 1950. In 2009 the ''Lone Wolf'' won second Place in the 33rd annual ''
Las Vegas Review-Journal'' High School Journalism awards in the "Reduced" format for best high school newspaper.
Representatives from their thespian troop competed at the State Thespian Conference in 2010 and won first place in their category of "Group Musical," with their performance of "Your Fault/Last Midnight" from
Sondheim's ''Into the Woods''. The following year, representatives from their troop again placed first at the conference in the "Duet Musical" category with "Serious" from ''Legally Blonde the Musical''.
Basic Academy offers a Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (JROTC), which has competed nationally in armed and unarmed drill, physical fitness, and marksmanship. The team won the National Championships at the United States Air Force Academy Invitational in
Colorado Springs, Colorado from 1994 to 2003. Basic's MCJROTC Unarmed and Armed Drill Teams competed in the 2012 National Championships held in
Torrance, California
Torrance is a city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is part of what is known as the South Bay region of the metropolitan area. Torrance has of beachfront on the Pacific O ...
. They also went on to place in the Nationals held in 2013 in Torrance, California with the help of First Sergeant Samuel Rael USMC (Ret.).
Basic Academy also offers courses in performing arts such as band, orchestra, choir, and theatre.
Athletics
Basic Academy's athletics programs are known as the Wolves and compete in the Southeast Division of the
Sunrise 4A Region. The school's baseball and basketball programs won state championships in 1955, 1956 and in 1959. In 1959 Paul Hornyak, senior point guard, was the first High School All-American in basketball for the state of Nevada. The school's football program has won the Tri-State Championship in 1955. And the second in 1960 in Class 2A. A 3A championship was won by the girls' volleyball squad in 1975. The Basic Academy wrestling team placed second in State in 1971, 1972, 1973 and 1974, finally winning their first 3A Championship in 1975. The 2007 Basic men's varsity soccer team had its best season ever, going to the Regional tournament for the first time in over 29 years. The affiliate team the Southern Nevada Blue Sox won the
American Legion World Series in 2017.
Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association State Championships
* Baseball – 1955, 1956, 1959, 1982, 1987, 2016, 2017, 2021, 2022
* Basketball – 1956, 1959, 1960
* Bowling (girls) – 2011, 2018
* Cross country (boys' and girls') – 1987, 1988, 1992, 1996, 1998, 2021
* Football – 1953, 1960
*Golf (girls) - 2021
* Volleyball (boys) – 1998, 2002
* Volleyball (girls) – 1978
* Wrestling – 1975, 1979, 1984
* Robotics - 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020
*Tennis (girls) - 2021
*Tennis (boys) - 2021
In popular culture
The school's cheerleading squad was featured on a 2010 episode of ''Penn & Teller''.
Notable alumni
*
Ryne Nelson – professional baseball pitcher for the
Arizona Diamondbacks
The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The ...
*
Scott Baker – former professional baseball pitcher
*
Glen and Les Charles – television writers and producers, notably of
''Taxi'' and ''
Cheers''
*
Chris Latham – former
MLB
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
player
*
Harry Reid
Harry Mason Reid Jr. (; December 2, 1939 – December 28, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Nevada from 1987 to 2017. He led the Senate Democratic Caucus from 2005 to 2017 and was the Sena ...
– former
U.S. Senator from Nevada (1987-2017) and
Senate Majority Leader
The positions of majority leader and minority leader are held by two United States senators and members of the party leadership of the United States Senate. They serve as the chief spokespersons for their respective political parties holding t ...
(2007–2015)
*
Henry Rolling – former
NFL player
*
Don Smerek – former NFL player
*
Louis S. Warren – environmental author
*
Dizzy Wright
La'Reonte Wright (born November 26, 1990), known professionally as Dizzy Wright, is an American rapper and record producer.
In December 2011, Wright signed to rapper Hopsin's independent record label, Funk Volume. After signing, he released his ...
– rapper
Feeder schools
* Sister Robert Joseph Bailey Elementary School
* C. T. Sewell Elementary School
* John Dooley Elementary School
* Edna F. Hinman Elementary School
* Sue H. Morrow Elementary School
* Josh Stevens Elementary School
* Jim Thorpe Elementary School
* Harriet Treem Elementary School
* B. Mahlon Brown Junior High School
* Francis H. Cortney Junior High School
* Lyal Burkholder Middle School
* Thurman White Middle School
* Legacy traditional schools cadence
References
External links
Basic Academy of International StudiesClark County School DistrictBasic Academy of International Studies - Facebook
{{authority control
Buildings and structures in Henderson, Nevada
Clark County School District
Education in Henderson, Nevada
Educational institutions established in 1942
High schools in Clark County, Nevada
School buildings completed in 1972
Public high schools in Nevada
1942 establishments in Nevada